New cases are higher today at more than 6,600 with one laboratory not submitting report for July 24 and only 45,000 tests done. The positivity rate is up at 13.4%! As the delta variant unfolds in our midst, the numbers seem to point to one thing – that there should be more urgent sequencing of the samples sent to the Philippine Genome Center, more testing should be done and contact tracing should be instituted early.
People need to understand that the behavior of the delta variant is a bit different from the previous variant of concerns, the alpha and beta variants. The delta variant has a shorter infection period, which makes it spread quicker. Because of the higher viral load compared to the original Wuhan virus, it also has the propensity to spread in greater populations because of the shorter time from exposure to symptom development. And the virus has the propensity to have escape mechanisms that may affect response to vaccination and a previous infection.
There are 23 reported deaths today, moving the case fatality ratio for outcomes to 1.81%.
OCTA MONITORING REPORT
The update for the week July 19-25 still shows Cagayan de Oro and Mariveles as the LGUs in the critical zone based on the four indicators used for monitoring how the top LGUs are doing.
In the high risk are: Davao City, Cebu City, Makati City, Iloilo City, Lapu Lapu City, Laoag, General Santos, Mandaue, Baguio, Las Piñas, and Valenzuela.
Notice the uptick in the reproduction number in the NCR. It now stands at 1.31. The national Rt is at 1.08.
The vaccination status in the country is updated and provided below (as issued by the Department of Health). Based on the report that over 30M COVID vaccines have arrived, a little more than half had been administered. Obviously, with a little more than 6% fully vaccinated for now and the threat of the delta variant looming over us like the Damocles sword, it will take awhile before a larger segment of the population will get jabbed. In the meantime, people are still advised to spread the word that we need to be mindful of when and how we move about. Mobility should be restricted for essentials for now.
Relative Joy 